by Libbylawrence
A lovely young Native American woman entered a crowd fairground and scowled at the smiling passersby as they bought popcorn and gazed at old posters.
“‘The American Heritage Salute to the Wild West,'” she read with scorn. These idiots gather to honor their movie and historical cowboy heroes and never think of the injustices these legends brought about or at the very least allowed to happen, she thought. Syonide shall pay them all back in blood before this little festival is over!
Nearby, a pretty blonde watched the crowd and looked up at her companion. He was older and stocky, but he looked as if he belonged here among the men and women who had lived such bold lives in truth or on the silver screen.
“Mr. Harper, I appreciate your agreeing to advise me on the new Law’s Legionnaires,” said Diana Dare, alias Queen Arrow. “And as the second Speedy, you have years of sound experience to draw upon, but why did you bring me here?”
Rob Harper looked at her expensive white dress and boots and said, “Diana, I spent years on Lost Mesa and years before that as the second Speedy. (*) I love the Native American culture, and this celebrates it. Plus, my brother Roy’s old pal the Vigilante is here, too. He was one of the original Legionnaires.”
[(*) Editor’s note: See Secret Origins: Green Arrow and Speedy: Targets.]
Diana smiled. “Of course! He is the country western singer/movie star Greg Sanders. I should have remembered that. I guess what with meeting and being so impressed with Captain Triumph, I let that fact slip my mind. I still can’t believe he just called me up out of the blue and offered to join my team!” (*)
[(*) Editor’s note: See All-Star Squadron: The Return of Captain Triumph.]
Rob grinned. “Yeah, I saw how those broad shoulders of his caught your eyes. He’ll be a real great addition to your team when he’s finished moving his gear.”
Queen Arrow knew that the second Black Canary, the new Tarantula, and Captain Triumph would help form her new Law’s Legionnaires team, but she still hoped for more members. Perhaps the Vigilante would sign up; his membership would really lend her team some ties to the original team.
***
Greg Sanders grinned as an elderly woman held out an album for him to sign. “You were my hero growing up! I loved your music and your movies.”
“Thank you, ma’am!” he said as he signed the album. “I’m right happy to find a fan like yourself.”
“Guy must have had plastic surgery,” whispered another man in the crowd.
“Vain big shot,” muttered his friend.
Greg felt at home on this festival grounds, since he did love the Old West, and not only because of his career as an actor and singer. He was also the heroic Vigilante, and the cowboy crimebuster had additional ties to the past, since it was his own grandfather who had first used the guns he wore as the masked fighter for justice, when the older man had been a real sheriff out west alongside other lawmen such as Johnny Thunder and Pow-Wow Smith.
Even the Vigilante himself had walked amongst those legends for a time, he mused as he looked up at the wax figures of the famous figures from the past. Thanks to the Nebula-Man, the Vigilante had been tossed through time back to the Old West for a few short years, then tossed back even further to a period before European colonization, before he was finally rescued by Johnny Thunder, Black Canary, and the Green Arrow of Earth-One. (*) He still thought about his own days back in the Old West; meeting his own grandfather as a young man had been a particular thrill.
[(*) Editor’s note: See “And One of Us Must Die,” Justice League of America #102 (October, 1972).]
He stopped sightseeing when Syonide jumped on stage and waved her stolen mystical hammer. “I invoke the spirits of fire and ice!” she cried. A fiery being erupted from the ground, even as one made of jagged ice formed from thin air.
As people screamed and fled, the Vigilante raced into action on his trusty motorcycle, while Queen Arrow slipped off her dress and charged forward, too, in her bikini costume, and Rob Harper grabbed a bow and followed. This brought back old memories, and he missed his mentor, the second Green Arrow.
The flame creature set a banner on fire, and Queen Arrow rapidly doused the burning banner with an extinguishing foam arrow. “You’re not that hot!” she joked with the feeling that it was inevitable that someone use that line.
The Vigilante eyed her approvingly and rode up. “Queen Arrow, I read about you. You handle that bow like a pro!”
She tossed back her long blonde hair and said, “High praise from a marksman like the Vigilante!”
He fired his own guns at the icy monster and shattered chunks of the beast, which melted and left it somewhat smaller.
Rob tried a different tactic, shooting an arrow at Syonide to try to disarm her. He shot the hammer out of her hand, and she rubbed it with pain. Monsters then began to rampage as she lost her hold on them. He cursed. “Stupid! I may have made things worse!”
The flame beast spat a wave of inferno-level heat toward the heroes, who scattered with agility and desperation.
“Let me help!” said a man in black and gray, who swung down from the shadows. “I am the Flying Fox!” said Rob Ravenson as he closed in on the woman he had chased across the country from Gotham City. He was eager to prove himself in his new role, and he also wanted to put her old hatred to rest. “Syonide, I read about you, and your late father was not even of Indian ancestry! Let this madness cease!” he said as he drew closer to the agile woman.
“Bah! My father believed in our cause regardless of his origin, and I shall make him a martyr!” she vowed as she kicked Flying Fox.
The Vigilante tried to end the icy monster’s rampage by charging toward it on his cycle at top speed. He raced straight up a ramp and jumped clear as the cycle shattered the ice monster’s chest into shards of ice. He smiled as he stopped just out of range. “I put that varmint on ice!”
Queen Arrow rolled between the spread legs of the flame monster and saw her chance. She fired her arrows into the creature and prayed for good fortune. The fireworks arrows exploded within the beast and acted like a fire break meant to stop a forest fire. The monster sizzled and died.
Rob Harper smiled his approval as Flying Fox twisted and tackled Syonide. Pinning her, he said, “You fight well, but your cause is a lost one. Let it die in the ashes of a new beginning for all people.”
“What trite garbage!” she sneered as she threw powder in his eyes. He flinched, and she ran for the fallen hammer. Just as she almost touched it, a whip snaked out to knock it aside.
“No, no, Senorita!” laughed a black-haired beauty clad all in shiny leather. “Enough of your medicine show for one night!” This new figure wore a bandana across her eyes, and her jet-black hair flowed like down her black-and-gold-cloaked shoulders.
“Who are you?” asked an angry Syonide as Queen Arrow kicked her flat.
“I am La Castiga! You knew my illustrious grandfather — the Whip!” she said, laughing. She referred to the late Rod Gaynor, who had posed as the twentieth-century version of the swashbuckling hero of the Old West. He had been a member of the All-Star Squadron during the war years.
“Want to join a team?” asked Rob.
La Castiga smiled and said, “Alas, this girl rides alone!” She cracked her whip and ran off.
The Flying Fox approached. “I would be honored to join your team. I have read about it in the news. I am the Flying Fox.”
Diana smiled. “We could use you. I see obvious Batman influences in that suit.”
“He was my father’s friend,” said the Fox. “He is my inspiration; actually, one of many.”
“I have my own team — the first Seven Soldiers — when and if we ever reunite,” said the Vigilante. “Thanks kindly for the offer, though.”
Rob Harper shook his hand. “You know my brother, Speedy.”
Greg led the stocky man aside. “Sure ’nuff! We got a yarn or two to swap!”
Syonide was imprisoned, and the Flying Fox returned her stolen hammer to Gotham. It was a good start for the slowly growing new Law’s Legionnaires.
The End